Sunday, February 15, 2009

Cooksey was born on November 2, 1975 in Moore, Oklahoma. Cooksey's mother moved with him to Los Angeles in 1980 to allow him to pursue a career in country music. His first acting role was in an episode of Dukes of Hazzard in 1983. Cooksey was later invited to audition for Diff'rent Strokes by an agent who saw one of Cooksey's performances.

Diff'rent Strokes was one of the top rated sitcoms between the late 1970s and early 1980s. The show centered on the crazy antics of Arnold Drummond (played by Gary Coleman), a young black boy who along with his brother Willis (played by Todd Bridges) was adopted by a rich white man who lived in a luxurious penthouse apartment in downtown New York City. Arnold was the star of the show for many years. However, by the mid-1980s the show's writers were running out of ideas and the show's viewership was flagging.

The writers initially tried to mix things up by showing an episode where Arnold's best friend Dudley (played by fellow washed-up celebrity Shavar Ross) was molested by a man who ran a bicycle repair shop. Molestation seemed to be a strange and deranged source of humor, but the writers were at their wit's end and needed something to increase viewership. However, the writers quickly realized that they couldn't have Dudley get molested in every single episode and that they would need a sustainable new "hook" to draw in viewers. The new hook was the addition of two new characters - Maggie McKinney, a middle-aged woman, and her young son, Sam McKinney. The McKinneys were added to the cast at the start of the seventh season when Maggie McKinney married Mr. Drummond and moved into the penthouse apartment with Sam.

Sam McKinney was an extremely unpopular character. Fans of Diff'rent Strokes hated Sam - he was extremely annoying and bratty. There was a notorious episode where Arnold and Sam were at a store and a deranged man, Don Brown, kidnapped Sam. The story line was that Mr. Brown's son had recently been killed and he wanted to replace his son with Sam. Mr. Brown convinced his own family that Sam was a homeless kid who they should adopt. Mr. Brown threatened to kill Sam's family if he tried to contact the police or run home. As shown in the image below, Mr. Brown used his large size to intimidate the diminutive Sam:

Fans of Diff'rent Strokes were very happy when Sam was kidnapped because they assumed that he was being written off the show. Unfortunately, Sam was rescued when he telephoned Arnold and was able to provide the phone number from where he was calling. The police later picked him up. I thought that the conclusion of that episode was very unrealistic.

Sam was a bratty kid and I always thought that the more likely conclusion would have involved the kidnapper giving Sam up on his own. Sam was most likely a bed wetter until he was 13 years old and probably pissed his pants while sleeping at the home of his kidnappers. The kidnapper's entire house must have reeked of the smell of urine after a couple days. The stench probably would have been unbearable, leading the kidnapper to voluntarily give up Sam.

Cooksey's character helped run Diff'rent Strokes into the ground, leading to its cancellation in 1986, after the eighth season. After the cancellation of Diff'rent Strokes, Cooksey co-starred as Kevin Cavanaugh in the TV sitcom, The Cavanaughs from 1986-1989. Cooksey subsequently had a role in one of the most successful films of the 1990s, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, where he played the role, "ginger kid with mullet," a friend of star John Connor.

However, Cooksey's boyish looks faded when puberty hit and the demand for him in acting roles became practically non-existent. Cooksey has managed to keep busy over the years doing voice-over roles for crappy animated series and video games where he doesn't need to show his face. For example, he has had a speaking role in 24: The Game and in the cartoon, Xiaolin Showdown.

Cooksey has also ventured into music. He was the lead singer in the band Bad4Good in the early 1990s - that band released one CD, Refugee, in 1992. Here is a picture of his band. It appears as though they took this picture in order to appeal to pedophiles (Cooksey is on the far right in the photo):

Cooksey later participated in the bands Roadkill and Lucy's Milk. Cooksey is apparently a big fan of the Garfield comic strip because since 2004, he has been in a band called Arbuckle, which might be named after Jon Arbuckle, the owner of Garfield the cat in the comic strip.

Cooksey was a successful, albeit extremely annoying, child actor in the mid-1980s. However, once he boyish looks faded he was relegated to voice-over roles where he doesn't have to show his face. His career path has been somewhat similar, although not nearly as pathetic, as that of fellow ginger washed-up celebrity, Michael Oliver. For this and the other reasons discussed above, Danny Cooksey is one washed-up celebrity!

74 comments:

Anonymous
said...

This is definitely an interesting one. I remember him in some nickolodian thing called "salute your shorts"back in the early to mid 90's when he was in his teens. Man talk about the "Diffrent Strokes" curse.None of them have had any luck since that show ended.

Would INXS be considered washed up? I heard that they fired the lead singer that they found on that reality show they did a few years back. I don't know if they would be worth an entry on this site, though.

I'm going to salute his shorts with my very raging boner! I find his look to be very Michael Oliver like. I'll make his buttchecks looks like a glazed donut. I only wish he'd grow that red mullet back so I can yank it like the red steed he is.. I'd make the sweetest gay love to Danny, the kind that's illegal in many states. Suck the shit off my cock Danny Cocksey.

The following is inspired from the picture of Sam blowing out his candles in a pirate suit.

Sam had a birthday today. I've always hated that fucker. Mr D would ass rape him 3 times a day while I was lucky if I'd get a cock in my mouth. I've put in years taking Mr D's load in my mouth and this little white boy comes in and suddenly I'm forgotten about.Mr D is even taking him out to a nice resturant, I've never had a party like that. Fuck his old white ass, Sam would never take a sack of ballsack like I could. i had to take a shower to get ready for the party so I laid out my pirate costume. In the shower I rubbed one out thinking about the time Dudley got molested.I went out to take my costume on, only to find that it was gone. I bet that asshole Sam took it. He's always taking my shit, well if it's shit he likes taking, than tonight he'll get his shit taken literaly.At the resturant, I found the gayest waiter and told him that Sam had a fake eye and he was more than welcome to skullfuck him. As Sam blew out his candles, I could see the waiter hoping that Sams wish was to be skull fucked. The waiter took Sam into the bathroom to what I could only imagine was a prelude to some little white bitch getting skull fucked so hard that his face looked like Rhianna's after Chris Brown set her straight.Sam came out crying and what used to be his eyes were now sockets filled with cum and blood. I felt a little responsible for it, but I couldn't tell Mr D because he'd send me back to the ghetto.I had to keep my mouth shut. I did for years until one day I told Sam. I really feel that enough time had passed and we were at a point were Sam could laugh about it all. He couldn't.I really hate that fucker.

No mention of Salute Your Shorts... Weird, but you should also go back to that show and do a story on Michael Ray Bower, the fat kid from Salute Your Shorts, aka Donkeylips. He has like 3 myspace pages, which should give you plenty to work with....

there is one thing about this site I have often wondered. Has it helped revived any of these peoples careers? You see people like the two Corey's, Willie Aames, Scott Baio, Erin Moran, Dustin Diamond all on these celeb reality shows where they pretty much make asses out of themselves & get paid to do it. I know there are a lot of names that I have left out that have already been posted on the washed up list, but it seems yo me that even negative attention in their cases is better than no attention. Feedback appreciated.

I can't believe I'm actually making this point, but to be technical the photo of the shirtless teenage boys wouldn't appeal to pedophiles, as those are people who are attracted to pre-adolescent children.

It's appeal to ephebophiles, however, who are attracted primarily to teenagers, is likely to be vast indeed.

What is it about Ginger washed up celebs? I know they give me a stonking boner but by God can no ginge have a career after childhood? Cooksey, if you are reading this I would love to hook up with both you and Michel Ponce and have a firesale!! LET ME KNOW!!

So do you people expect him to go to the nearest tall building ledge and throw himself off?

life is not fair for all. Give him a break. Look at yourself.. When you were down , did someone kick you further down? well, that's what you are doing to this guy. He is looking for work,leave him alone.

I have to agree with Timmi, there. I was not the biggest Danny Cooksey fan, but he's definitely the most successful of his Diff'rent Strokes castmates. Voice-over work is one of the best back-up careers for child actors (particularly those who loose their looks), it's lucrative, less stressful, unionized and more and more actors are getting into it.

You can't call him washed up. He's been pretty busy with a different kind of entertainment career. I'm glad so many people mentioned Salute Your Shorts. But he was also the voice of Stoop Kid in Hey Arnold (I loved that cartoon) and he's had plenty of voice over work in Disney and Nickelodeon cartoons. Plus his personal life seems to be in order--married and has a little girl. He may not be front and center on TV, but it's not like he's Leif Garrett or something.

First, I'd like to say I love this website. I'm becoming addicted to it, an really having a lot of fun reminiscing. I mean, Bryce Beckham? That kid should be erased from the collective conscious by now. But no, you keep dragging him back. Fun, fun stuff.I'm really starting to think this site is run by a (self hating) former child star.The question, now, is which former child star?He must have peaked in the 80's, because practically every entry on here focuses on that time, so the author has a throbbing hard-on for all things eighties. I would also guess he had slightly less fame than most on here. Which also highlights one possible motivation -- Jealosy.Obviously, this former child star has not been chronicled on this site so far. Though after this he might write one as subterfuge.I'm just going to throw a name out there.Danny Ponce! This site was started and written by that fucker Danny Ponce. No wonder he hates Brandon Call. I believe Brandon might have replaced Danny on the Hogans.I might be wrong; why don't you correct me, Mister "I pick on kids whose parents thought their children should be on TV. Then, once those kids were no longer under the control of said parents they decided to quit acting, because it wasn't for them. So now I declare them washed up because I'm an authority on the subject."@Dixie I know -- finally I can breathe!

You guys really need to get a life. This is one of the nastiest blogs I've ever come across next to "Fuck Yeah Horrible Art". Way to hate on someone who's clearly accomplished more than you have or ever will. T__T

I loved Danny Cooksey in the Prophet of Evil movie. Never saw him in anything else but I will always have an affection for him because of his role in that film.He did an amazing job and made the character come to life and made the real life person he played sympathetic and vivid.

Honestly could you be anymore pathetic, the guy has a relatively successful career, he's fairly good looking for a guy whose nearly 40, and he has a ass kicking voice that believe me girls really like.

You... write a mean little blog.

Also you failed to mentio that he was sex on toast as Hot-streak on Static Shock.

I could never accept the premise that Sam was the son of Maggie. Maggie was played by former Miss America, Mary Ann Mobley. It was too much to believe that a former Beauty Queen could be the biological mother of such a freakish-looking runt like Sam. By the way, the more believable ending to the kidnapping of Sam episode would have been for the Kidnapper to have to pay Mr. Drummond to take Sam back.

You want to know why he's wearing the Zappa shirt? Because he played GUITAR for Zappa. Now unless you're a total music moron you know that Frank Zappa didn't let just anyone play for him, so he had to be talented in that respect.

Also, referring to his appearances on "crappy" animated productions, he's been featured on some of the most popular cartoons/cartoon movies we still recognize today. Ren & Stimpy, Pepper Ann (that show won an Emmy and was on for 5 seasons, btw) Spongebob Squarepants, and even The Lorax. As someone who isn't even a huge Cooksey fan, I'd say he's far from "washed-up."

Undoubtedly this entire blog is just some troll who clearly has no time to dedicate to research. I'm sure saving his sweet, sweet virginity for a rough trick named "Jim" is exhausting and time-consuming. Never mind trying desperately to find his penis so he can crank it to photos of present-day Brigitte Nielson. Huzzah! You are writing about a dad with 2 kids and a better job than yours!

Obviously that last post was from the wash-up himself. Ooh he played for Zappa, did he? Just cause he used to jerk himself off while he ran the camera for Dweezil & Moonunit's homemade sex tapes doesn't make him a star. Frank had to let him pretend to guitar a few times on stage so he could pay for the movie little Danny made of his kids. I don't blame our little ginger friend for making dirty movies, he had to do something to pay the bills after the revival of You Can't Do That on Television ended.

Thanks for reminding me of the name of that movie. Ur right, he was really good at that. I think all the haters blogging on this site are probably just as annoying, but they're jealouse that's he's rich and famouse for being annoying and they are all still living in thier moms basement watching porn and getting blisters on there hands and dicks.

I just discovered this place and I'm surprised with the abusive language, towards Danny Cooksey. Bullying is the cause of so much hate crime, pain and deaths. I thought you people are adults with children , if so are you cruel parents or abusive spouses? or are you secretly young and insecure victims. Danny Cooksey was fantastic as Sam, he was given a role to play and he was a true actor. I heard his music, loved his voice too. Why not start a new blog for true fans, there must be a VIP only to qualify as a member. The entertainment world is not an easy life to lead. Cammie. btw where is the "report abuse button" ?

This entire article is bullshit. I have been friends with Danny since I was 5 and ,yes, like any other celeb he did some things he wasn't to great in. He decided to give up acting to focus on music. He realized his real talent is his voice. Don't hate on him because he is making more money then you will see in your life! He is a great guy with a beautiful family and an amazing voice. In short....Go To HEll!

The author of this article sounds pretty bitter about Cooksey. Did he wrong him in another life? I loved the roles he had, especially his role in the comedy Salute Your Shorts (which this author failed to mention). Perhaps he's just jealous that -- despite his downfalls -- Cookey's picked himself up and kept his head up. Hollywood's brutal and...

Soooo.... He's "washed up" and sucks so bad and yet you're using him to gain attention for your crappy blog? Who are you anyway? That's right, no one. That's why he is still recognized for his voice and you're no one. By the way, he didn't just do "crappy cartoons," he appeared on some of the most memorable cartoons of the 90s and does work for video game voice overs too.

Good luck getting Google to even consider your blog for $0.15 a year in ad revenue. Danny Cooksey may not be major commercial success, but he's likely had better jobs than most of you assholes and he's been married 16 years without succumbing to the usual child star antics. "Washed up" is sounding pretty good now, huh?

"The author of this article" is bitter about Cooksey 'cos he's just a keyboard warrior.Keep on hating these "washed up" celebrities, after all you know they live comfortable lives and are most successful than you'll ever be.

Omg I loved Salute Your Shorts when I was little. Bobby Budnick was Frickin awesome. Thanks Danny for an awesome show when I was a kid. Have to admit, I had a crush on him back then. Glad to see he's done so much with his life since then. Like for real, he's one of the few child stars still working and seems to have a good personal life as well. Wouldn't consider that being too washed up.

I always liked danny in different strokes he added an edge to what was missing after dana got Prego and had 2 leave then overdosed later on here in the town where i live now. personally i think all you over casted dark people JUST HATE us ones w/ red hair I'm a musician/singer/songwriter as well w/ red hair maybe that's 1 reason why i never got a break 2 many pregus' out there maybe me and Danny could meet up some where in life and form the most powerful band of red heads you sintars have ever seen ! well maybe now you will attack me verbs' YYZ HA I ENJOYED DANNY'S SINGING HA SO PUT THAT 1 WHERE THE OTHER 1 FITS AND YOU KNOW EHER 2 PUT THE CORK!